Listening to View it becomes apparent that Bryan Beller (Mike Keneally Band, Wayne Kramer, Steve Vai), who stalwart fans have come to know as “Bassboy,” has grown up. Well, sort of. Let’s begin by saying this: With his solo debut Beller has come fully and rapidly into his own and the view we see here is one of panoramic proportion, one of a man and musician engaged in deep dialogue with his instrument, engaged at such a level that the music often transcends that very designation, becoming at times very near corporeal, though it finally remains very much fixed in the firmament of the intangible, where each gliding, disembodied note, each melodic bend and harmonic curve and sweet, paradisiacal beat becomes as comforting as the breeze of a benevolent spirit visiting us during an impossibly intense moment of doubt.

Whether the meditative muse conjurer (on the opening “Bear Divide”), the faithful fusionite (“Seven Percent Grade”), or the man intent on wearing a few new notches in the word “groove” (“Supermarket People”), Beller commits himself so completely to each song, each style that the leaps he makes, leaps between psychic and sonic landscapes that would seem jarringly disparate in the hands of another, lesser musician, sound positively seamless here. So seamless that, at times, one wonders if the album’s name shouldn’t have been Bridge, for Beller, time and again, builds them between styles and songs: “Get Things Done,” a fast drive on the open road under the most crystal and warm autumnal light leads to “Backwoods,” which in turn leads listeners out into more treacherous climes with “Bite,” a raucous Wes Wehmiller and Colin Keenan-penned Stone Temple Pilotslike romp that not only proves there’s still plenty of boy left inside the man but provides a thoroughly human warmth that, although of the variety you’re more likely to find on the wrong side of the Seine or the Sunset Strip, remains consistent with the warmth of other tracks.

But perhaps the track that best exemplifies the bridging that occurs throughout View is “Eighteen Weeks,” a strange and beautiful journey that also serves as the disc’s longest track. The song encapsulates Beller’s rare and keen understanding of high (which he displays on “Get Things Done,” “Bear Divide” and the elegant title track) and low art (the aforementioned “Bite” as well as “Projectile,” which features Seattle wunderkind Yogi). Made alternately eerie and inviting by the chilling warmth of Tricia Steel’s vibraphone, Rick Musallam’s sweet but serrated guitar lines and the ever-persistent beat of time as measured out by Joe Travers (and, of course, Beller’s own openhearted bass and keyboard musings), the track moves from a kind of disquieting somnolence to a swelling but never fully-realized wakefulness that leaves the listener happily trapped in the twilight between. The string trio of Sean Bradley (violin), Dmitri Kourka (viola) and Dave Takanashi (cello) provides yet another layer of chill-inspiring musical nirvana, at times bringing to mind the better, less sentimental work of film composer John Williams. And while many albums thrive on that marriage of high and low, there are far fewer that do it as successfully and subtly as Beller has done it here with View.

This may be the first album from the sinfully talented Bryan Beller (and his sinfully talented friends, including Keneally) but, as they say, we can rest assured that it won’t be the last. To steal a line from the album and use it as message to the man: “This is where you belong.” Welcome.

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